Happy Birthday!!!

My DH is celebrating his birthday today...he took the day off work to have some "me" time, which is always a good thing. He's spending the day recording (HIS material, not someone else's band...been a while since he's done his own stuff) and probably catching the matinee of "Wolverine" after my son gets home from school. I'll be finishing up his cake (Devil's Food with Bavarian Creme and Raspberry filling...sugar-free, of course) while they're at the movie. I hope you're having a wonderful day, babe...you deserve it in spades.

Mucho love-o!!!!
your wife xoxox

Murder so...sweet??

I love to read. I enjoy all kinds of books – everything from Ernest Hemmingway and Charles Dickens to Stephen King and Jackie Collins. There really is no specific genre I prefer although I tend to get stuck in ruts (my latest one has been vampire stories…the Sookie Stackhouse series, The Hollows series). I have to share with you the book I just finished up, however. It’s a murder mystery. With cookies. The book is called “Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder”….the name of the author escapes me at the moment. It is the first in a series, with the next book being “Strawberry Shortcake Murder”. Followed by the “Blueberry Muffin Murder”. You can see where this is going, right? Main character is named Hannah; she owns a busy bakery (The Cookie Jar) in a small Minnesota town. After stumbling into a murder case, she decides to help her brother-in-law the cop solve the case. What makes this book unique (I can’t wait to see if it holds true in the rest of the series) is that when Hannah whips up a batch of her famous cookies to take to an event, such as her Chocolate Chip Crunches or Black and Whites, the author gives you the recipe so you can enjoy them as well. Kind of a “two ‘fer”…a whodunit and a cookbook all in one :0) Haven’t tried any of them out yet…however the Chocolate-Covered Cherry Delights are calling to me….

The Oscar Song

My bologna has a first name
It’s O-S-C-A-R.
My bologna has a second name
It’s M-A-Y-E-R.
Oh I love to eat it every day,
And if you ask me why
I’l saaaaaaay:
“Cause Oscar Mayer has a way
With b-o-l-o-g-n-a!”

Pain, Dope and BLS

I’m running on fumes this morning so y’all bear with me if I ramble, babble or just flat out don’t make an iota of sense. 3 hours of sleep tends to do that. Oh but it was worth every minute :0)

First off, the Depot is quite the venue. They’ve done a fab job of remodeling the old UP train station. It’s beautiful. Some of the art deco era touches – such as the large silver door pulls on the wooden doors into the main level, the paint colors - from the days when the building bustled with busy travelers are awesome. Of course, your average dude wouldn’t notice this; being a person with an X chromosome, I tend to notice the trivial things like décor and architecture. Plus, I LOVE old buildings/houses. So much character. But I digress. The Depot has 3 floors to it; we had tix in the VIP section, which was on the top floor. We shared our suite with 3 guys who had driven from Wyoming just to see Zakk (Wyoming Chapter in the house!). Now when we arrived, our original plan was to grab our tix from the box office where they were held for us, then go over to the Gateway for dinner. We figured we had plenty of time, since it was just after 7 and the show wasn’t scheduled to start until 8. Au contraire, mon cher. The person at the box office window had us go thru security, into the building to the inner office to claim our tickets and be shown to our suite. So we went in. Ordered a beer. Wandered the main floor, ordered a couple Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches & fries (definitely not a Moochies Philly but pretty good). Then the first band started! At 7:30! Who the heck ever heard of a concert starting EARLY?!? First band: Cycle of Pain. This is a new group formed by Black Label Society’s bass player, JD. They kicked butt. Completely rockin’ tunes; if you happen to be in the mood for some in-your-face attitude music, I would recommend their cd. Second band: Dope. From Chicago. Been around a while apparently as the singer said that their new cd was their 5th. Wasn’t sure what to expect. These guys put on a good show, really worked the crowd (the mosh pit was loving it…that is something I will never understand – mosh pits….don’t get it, does NOT look like anything close to fun). They played “Rebel Yell” by Billy Idol which cranked everyone up and got the place rocking. And then. At last. BLS. I have to say that given the choice between seeing a group in a large venue (arena) or a smaller club venue like The Depot, I’d choose the club every time. You have a much more intimate, one-on-one experience with the artist you are seeing in the smaller venues. We were maybe 20 feet from the stage. Having Zakk up close and personal like that was just the best. Loved his tribute to Dime. His 20 minute guitar solo was phenomenal. And his rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” …is awesome.They tore up the stage, the crowd rowdy and loving every second...except maybe the bouncers. Suicide Messiah is still running through my head this morning. The show was fantastic and was over way too fast. This member of the Doom Crew Utah Chapter was left wanting more more more, anxiously awaiting my next chance to see Black Label Society. And it can't be soon enough.

An evening with Zakk

What was the best thing BEFORE sliced bread?? When Meatloaf sings that he would “do anything for love, but I won’t do that”, what IS “that”? If heat rises, why is it colder in the mountains? And why in the name of all that is good and holy will people wear shorts paired with a big ol’ North Face bubble coat in 70 degree weather?? Just a few mysteries of the universe that came up on my visit to Kanab. Kaylin’s sweetie gave us the answer to the Meatloaf question (although I still love the answer one of my friends at work gave – the dishes!) but we’re still on the hunt for the rest. Especially the last one….

The hubby and I are having a date night….we’re going to dinner and then to a concert of one of our favorites – Black Label Society. Those of you who aren’t familiar with the name (and that’s probably 99.9% of you), BLS is the band for Ozzy Osbourne’s guitar player, Zakk Wylde. Zakk is actually quite the guy, and a completely amazing guitar player. He may look a bit intimidating (okay, he looks like a Hells Angel in bell bottoms!), but is really a super dude. And super busy! If he’s not on the road with BLS or Ozzy, he is in the studio with one or the other band. Right now, he is just beginning his band’s tour, after finishing up a loooong tour with Ozzy, is just releasing his newest CD, and is in the process of writing songs for Ozzy’s next cd. (I’m getting tuckered out just thinking about all the irons he’s got in the fire…yeesh!) I bought tix for my hubby and my dad-in-law to go see Zakk 2 years ago (which they LOVED) and I am looking forward to a fantastic show tonight. Doom Crew forever!

We spent the evening on Saturday with my mom-in-law and her husband, who were in the area to watch his son race motocross. We had a leisurely dinner and chatted up a storm. The 2 ½ hours we were at the restaurant flew by! Then we took them by Steve’s work to show them some of the cool gear they make. It would have been nice if the weather had been decent…maybe we could have picnicked in the park or BBQ’d. Hopefully next time we can do that.

Have a good day everyone

Strawberries

A sweet little recipe to share with you to add a little strawberry goodness to your weekend :0)

I found this on a recipe site I check out often and ended up making this for my son's birthday. There are 2 ways to make this - the fully-loaded version and the better for me but still deeeeelish "unleaded" version. I made the "unleaded" version. If I hadn't told my husband and son, they never would have known...it was that good.

The Ultimate Strawberry Shortcake
20 min | 20 min prep
SERVES 12

• 1 quart fresh strawberries (or more if you like)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping
• 1 (14 ounce) angel food cake, cut into cubes (I buy the cake already made)

1. Wash, stem, and cut strawberries in half.
2. Add sugar; toss to mix well.
3. Chill.
4. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar well.
5. Fold in whipped topping and cake cubes.
6. Spread cake into an ungreased 13x9 dish.
7. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
8. Cut cake into squares; top with strawberries.

"Unleaded" Version:
I used Splenda in place of the sugars, sugar-free Cool Whip, fat-free Philly cream cheese and I baked a reduced sugar white cake. I also didn't use quite as much "sugar" as it calls for. And I found that the topping made as directed did not seem to be enough for the whole 13x9 pan..don't know if that was because I made one or not. Thought I'd mention it so you could buy double the cream cheese and Cool-Whip if you wanted to.

ENJOY!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!